#RolandMartinUnfiltered - CBC rips Senate over COVID-19 relief bill; McConnell OK w/ bankrupt Dem states; Africans Vs Chinese?

Episode Date: April 23, 2020

4.23.20 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: CBC calls out Senate over COVID-19 relief bill; Sen. McConnell OK with bankrupt Blue states; In the midst of a global pandemic, what is going on with Africans Vs Chinese? We'll look at the history of how African Americans have fared during pandemics + BWR Black Women’s “Power Table Talk” Series Launches tonight on #RolandMartinUnfiltered Support #RolandMartinUnfiltered via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered or via PayPal ☛https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered #RolandMartinUnfiltered is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Today is April 23rd, 2020. Coming up on Roland Martin on Filter. We'll be joined by Congressman Stephen Horsford of Nevada as he gives us the latest on what's happening with the money that Congress will be passing to help small businesses. Will black folks get enough of that? What the hell is going on in China attacking Africans over coronavirus? Washington Post editor Karen Atiyah will join us to talk about what's going on there. Also, folks, we'll talk about the health disparities that go back decades when it comes to the United States. Also on today's show, Senator Mitch McConnell,

he pretty much said in the hell with these states, especially blue states, y'all got funding problems, you can file for bankruptcy. Folks, we got a jam-packed show for you. In addition to that, the second hour, Black Women's Roundtable are going to have a 90-minute discussion of the power of black women, the vote, and the election.

You don't want to miss that. A phenomenal line of guests. All of that coming up right now. It's time to bring the funk and roll the mic on the filter. Let's go. Let's go. The fact the fine and when it breaks he's right on time and it's rolling best believe he's knowing Putting it down from sports to news to politics with entertainment just for kicks It's Rollin' Martin Yeah Rollin' with Rollin' now Yeah

He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best You know he's Rollin' Martin Now Martin All right, folks, as of today, 876,156 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the United States and 49,648 deaths. Folks, we are just short of 50,000 deaths due to coronavirus. 85,000 people have recovered. Now, in his daily briefing, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said that although the curve continues to flatten,

New York is not where they want to be. The hospitalization rate is down again. So that is good news. The overall, if you project the curve, everybody's looking at curves nowadays. If you look at the curve, the curve continues to go down. And that's also in the total hospitalization number. It bounces up and down a little bit, but it's clearly down. And that's also in the total hospitalization number bounces up and down a little bit, but it's clearly down. Number of intubations bounces a little bit, but it's also clearly down. The number of new COVID cases walking in the door or being diagnosed is relatively flat.

That is not great news. We'd like to see that going down, but it's not going up either. Number of lives lost is still breathtakingly tragic, 438. That number is not coming down as fast as we would like to see that number come down. And what we're looking at at this point is, okay, we're on the downside of the curve. The numbers are trending down. Do they continue to trend down or do they pop back up? If they continue to trend down, how fast is the decline, and how low will the decline go? In other words, if 1,300 people or about that number keep walking in the door, then you're going to have a hospitalization rate proportionate with the number of people walking in the door. So we want to see the number of people walking in the door reduced, the number of new infections reduced,

so we hit a low plateau, if you will. All right, folks, in that same news conference, Governor Andrew Cuomo was livid after he heard the remarks of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Mitch McConnell actually said that for these states that are, frankly, Democratic or blue states with their funding problems, oh, they can just file for bankruptcy. Cuomo was not happy, and he lit into Mitch McConnell. Just go back to my so-proclaimed grim reaper, Senator McConnell, for another second.

He represents the state of Kentucky, okay? When it comes to fairness, New York State puts much more money into the federal pot than it takes out. Okay. At the end of the year, we put in to that federal pot, $116 billion more than we take out. Okay. His state, the state of Kentucky takes out 148 billion more than they put in. Okay?

So he's a federal legislator. He's distributing the federal pot of money. New York puts in more money to the federal pot than it takes out. His state takes out more than it puts in. Senator McConnell, who's getting bailed out, not my state. All right, folks, joining us right now is Congressman Stephen Horsford of Nevada. Congressman, welcome back to Roland Martin Unfiltered. Thank you, Roland, for having me on.

Appreciate it. So what do you make of these comments by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pretty much saying, you're in a blue state, screw you, file, for having me on. Appreciate it. So what do you make of these comments by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, pretty much saying, you're in a blue state, screw you, file for bankruptcy? The comments by Mitch McConnell are outrageous. They're irresponsible. And as a former state senator myself, I know very well what these budgets mean to the essential services and the essential workers that are funded. Governor Cuomo is absolutely right. In fact, Kentucky is ranked number 27 out of 50 states for the amount of funding that they got for this Paycheck Protection Program. My home state of Nevada is 43rd in the ranking of funding that our small businesses got.

So the Senate Majority Leader is fine when it's money for his state. He falls over himself to help those special interests, but he's not willing to help the first responders, the heroes who are literally on the front lines providing essential services to each one of our constituents. We are in a pandemic, and that requires us to work together with our partners at the state and local level to make sure that our constituents are healthy and well and get the economic relief that they need right now. Continue to characterize this virus. So troubling by this was so troubling by when you look at these comments from McConnell, as Cuomo said, wait a minute, states like New York and New Jersey and others, they are sending money. Scientists, not only in S&T. They're actually. To the larger scientific and R&D community.

They're actually sending money back to the federal government. And so he's like, you know what? I don't care about y'all. And the problem is he's just not hurting the governor. They're constituents. They're American citizens in these states. They are not just the American people, the families, businesses, workers who are being affected. It's just irresponsible.

And look, if Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell doesn't want to lead, then my message is get out of the way and let us do our job. The House voted today to provide $484 billion of funding. Had it not been for the House Democrats and Mitch McConnell had gotten his way, they would have only provided additional money to small businesses. And look, they needed money to businesses. But we also need money for hospitals. We also were able to secure $25 billion for testing. There's one city in my district, Roland, that 66% of the deaths in this city in North Las Vegas are African Americans who died from COVID-19. That's three times the percentage of the population. So I need these resources. I need them in my city. I need them throughout every part of my state. And I'm working hard to make sure that we get that funding. So I'm calling

on legislative leaders. I don't even think we should go home. I think Congress needs to stay in session. We need to pass the next round of funding. Mitch McConnell, either get on board or get out of the way. Let's talk about money for small businesses. We just found today that Ruth Chris Steakhouse, they're sending the money back that they receive from this. That's a huge deal there because what we have discovered is that a lot of small businesses did not get the money they should have been getting. Also, you've got this company out of Texas, a Trump donor who hires lobbyists. He ends up getting $53 million for his hotel business. Guess what? I know most black businesses can't run out and hire two lobbying firms to make sure they get the most

money from any other small business as a result of that money. What is Congress doing to ensure there's fairness in this system? Well, great question, Roland, and it's one that a number of our businesses, black-owned, women-owned businesses, have asked that very question. I want to commend Chairwoman Maxine Waters of Congressional Black Caucus for fighting hard. We were actually able to carve out $60 billion of new funding that will be dedicated to community development finance institutions that work primarily with Black-owned, minority-owned businesses, women-owned businesses. We also were able to get $30 billion carved out for community banks and credit unions. So what we were hearing, and I heard directly from the

business owners in my district, was they weren't being treated fairly by the big banks. In fact, one of the banks said you already had to have a loan with them in order to even apply for PPP, even though that was not one of the requirements in the legislation that we passed. So now this new funding. And that's what I'm talking about. That's what I'm. Yeah, that's what I'm talking about right there. Banks creating their own systems that block people out, so they're really helping businesses that already have small business loans with them. So Congress sets the rules, but the banks create their own rules? And they charge fees for these loans. I read a report that said that banks were going to make up to

$10 billion in fees for administering the loans. Look, I don't have any problem with them making some portion of money for helping to get this money out. But the fact that they were creaming with certain businesses being eligible and leaving out the hardest hurt businesses and those that needed it the most, we take objection with. And that is why we call for congressional oversight. The fact that somebody can hire a lobbyist so that the president's friends can get somehow better treatment. The fact that Mitch McConnell's state is getting more money than states like Nevada. We have an issue with that. I have small businesses that are being denied the ability to even apply for the funding

because a portion of their revenue comes from gaming. We've been calling on the Trump administration to overrule that guidance so that these businesses have an equal shot and aren't being discriminated against so that they can get this funding as well. So you're right. These are the issues that we've been hearing from our business owners, black business owners, women business owners who are really the engines of our economy. And we have to make sure that a greater share of this funding gets to them with the second round of funding that we approved today. All right.

So the money today, what's the oversight? That's the key. Because as long as these banks can do what the hell they want to do, and then it's after the fact, well, it doesn't matter. Because if all the money is gone for the second time after the fact, nothing, it doesn't matter. So we approved a congressional oversight today of the PPP program. And as you know, WIPP, Jim Clyburn is also overseeing a coronavirus committee as well

based on all of the funds, not just this program, but all of the response funds. But specifically, the legislation today that we voted for requires the SBA and Treasury to report on the number of minority women, veteran-owned businesses by size, by type of business, by region. We got a report last week from the SBA, but it did not include demographic data. It only said the size of the business, not if it was Black-owned. So now with this new language in this bill, the SBA will be required to report out on that information, and we will hold them accountable to how equitable those funds are actually dispersed. All right, Congressman Steve Horsford of Nevada, we certainly appreciate it, sir. Thank you so very much. Thank you, Roland. Have a good day. Stay safe. All right, then. Now, folks, I want to bring

in my panel. Joining me right now is Dr. Greg Carr, his chair, Department of Afro-American Studies, Howard University, Recy Colbert, Black Women Views, also Erica Savage- are seeing, first of all, I want to deal with Mitch McConnell first. We're going to come back to the small business situation. What Mitch McConnell is doing is exactly what Republicans did when they passed that tax cut. It was designed to take money from blue states to say, screw you, and we're going to send it to red states. The reason so many Republicans in California lost is because of the money that was stripped from Californians as a result. This is what I keep trying to explain to people, the evil nature of Republicans in leadership. They don't give a damn. It's an election year, and Mitch McConnell is going to do whatever he can to screw states that do not support Donald Trump. Yes, he is. And fortunately, the Crypt Keeper is going to screw himself. The interview he gave

with his fellow Crypt Keeper, Hugh Hewitt, where he talked about these states as states that needed their pension funds bailed out, was a direct shot against organized labor. We see in Wisconsin that this same hillbilly horde is getting ready to show up at the statehouse tomorrow in Wisconsin. And at the same time, you have the Wisconsin Republican Party telling them, leave your Confederate flags, your Trump paraphernalia, and your guns at home. What does that mean? That means that Mitch McConnell, clearly one of the most reckless, feckless, and unprincipled politicians in the history of America is appealing to a dying, shrinking base.

And I loved when you put Governor Cuomo there, because Cuomo spelled it out. This is a federal state in which New York pays more than it takes out, and Kentucky is going to be harmed. Finally, I'll say this very quickly. In that same state of Wisconsin, where Hugh Hewitt has set up his little Crypt Keeper base for a number of years, and he was the one who interviewed McConnell on this, you've got polling data that shows that in this recent election that the Republicans thought they were going to hurt the Democrats in, people in counties in Wisconsin who have higher rates of COVID-19 infection, even conservatives, were more likely to vote for the progressive candidates in his previous election. What Mitch McConnell is doing is ensuring he's going to go into political crypt sooner rather than later,

because his base may just desert him as they begin dying. Bottom line here, Erica, what we're seeing is we are seeing exactly how these folks operate. And you are seeing also on the small business side where these folks are able to go out, get these lobbyists to ensure they get the most money. I mean, this guy in Dallas was bitching and moaning, okay? Oh my, how his business was just destroyed. Yet him and his dad laid off 95% of their employees, but they took a $2 million dividend, and now they got $53 million from the federal government. I mean, this is the kind of crap people were warning Democrats,

saying you cannot allow it to happen because it should be a fair system and not who can run out and hire Republican lobbyists to ensure they get money. Absolutely, Roland. And think about it. If in 2018, during the midterms, had the Democrats not won the House, this would not even be a conversation that we're having right now. So I'm going to borrow a term from the Reaganites and remix it a bit. The welfare kings are really showing themselves. And that's what people need to see, that essentially what Ruth Chris did, and I know another big name corporation that was shamed into giving the money back. So we have $30 million that went back into the SBA program because they received these

large bailouts is really what the game has been all along. We're also seeing why it is so very important for people to be involved in politics at every level, because all of these individuals that have made, that are making these decisions are elected officials. On the piece around lobbyists, thinking about who has $50,000 extra to hire someone to have a really good conversation, hardly anyone. And so the oversight is the other piece that really needs to happen and hoping that the media, mainstream media, will not continue to allow the spin that Trump used in the impeachment hearings to say that it is indeed a witch hunt. It is not a witch hunt. You're talking about over $400 billion that's been allocated to ensure

that during this public health crisis that's been allocated to ensure that during this public health crisis that there's PPE to make sure that those businesses and churches and all of those essential folks that really need money do, in fact, get that money. Recy, people better understand this is the game they play, and Democrats have got to be just as ruthless in dealing with the Senate Republicans. Yeah, I agree with you. At the same time, the Senate Democrats only have so much to think they've been very effective in winning some key concessions from the Senate Republicans. But we've seen, I mean, what do Cuomo call him, the Grim Reaper? Moscow Mitch is another name for him. Mitch McConnell is completely corrupt. And for all of the emphasis

that Republicans supposedly have on the economy, California has the fifth largest economy in the world. It's larger than the United Kingdom. New York has the 11th, I believe, or is it the 13th? Sorry, the 13th largest economy in the world, which is larger than Russia. So these blue states that Mitch McConnell wants to demonize and say, hey, go bankrupt, who gives a shit? These are the people that are, these are the states and the taxpayers that are powering the government, the federal government and the world economy. So we cannot just be dismissive of that. And I think to what you mentioned earlier, Roland, Republicans got wiped out in California because of dirty tricks like this, you know, repealing the salt deduction, knowing that it would disproportionately hurt people in

blue states. And we have another election coming up. And guess what? Even if by some miracle, Trump survives, these Republicans are going to be wiped out by people like Mitch McConnell. Well, that's exactly the case there. And I think we played just one of those soundbites from Andrew Cuomo. I think we have a second one. Why don't you go ahead and fire that one? Vicious is saying when Senator McConnell said

this is a blue state bailout. What he's saying is if you look at the states that have coronavirus problems, they tend to be democratic states. New York, California, Michigan, Illinois, they are democratic states. So if you fund states that are suffering from the coronavirus, they're democratic states. Don't help New York state because it is a democratic state. How ugly a thought. I mean, just think of just think of what he's saying. People died. Fifteen thousand people died in New York, but they were predominantly Democrats. So why should we help them? I mean, for crying out loud, if there was ever a time you're going to put aside, for you to put aside your pettiness and your partisanship and this political lens that you see the world through,

Democrat and Republican, and we help Republicans but we don't help Democrats, that's not who we are. It's just not who we are as a people. I mean, if there's ever a time for humanity and decency, now is the time. And if there was ever a time to stop your political, obsessive political bias and anger, which is what it's morphed into, just a political anger.

Now is the time. And you want to politically divide this nation now with all that's going on? How irresponsible and how reckless. I'm the governor of all New Yorkers, Democrat, Republican, Independent. I don't even care what your political party is. I represent you. I'm the governor of all New Yorkers, Democrat, Republican, Independent. I don't even care what your political party is. I represent you. And we are all there to support each other.

This is not the time or the place or the situation to start your divisive politics. It is just not. And that's why, look, our rule has been very simple from day one. There is no red and blue. There should have never been a red and blue when it comes to any important issue. But certainly not now. Again, I mean, what you're seeing here,

what we're seeing here, point blank, Greg, is the kind of cold, hardcore, cold politics. And I think people need to understand this is what you're voting for in November. This is what you're voting against in November. You're voting against folks who also are supporting voter suppression, people who don't want mail-in ballots to take place. Because, again, this is not, let me be real clear, I've never self-identified as a Republican, I've never self-identified as a Democrat, I look at issues.

But this is right here where I said, I will never be able to support Republicans in the things that they do if they want to be unfair, if they want to be evil, if they want to be callous. And when you are doing these type of things, when you're screwing people out of their right to vote, you do not have a right to be in public office. And Democrats should be hitting this hard. And in fact, Greg, you've already heard McConnell even say he can't wait for May 4th for them to be back in session to get

back to confirming judges because he says leave no judge behind. They are even going to older judges and asking them to retire so they can appoint 35- and 40-year-old white men. That is what they're doing. And I applaud Senator McConnell because Senator McConnell is going to make it much more easier to run the Mack truck of humanity over his racist soon to be soon for us to be rid of behind. It's another reason listening to Cuomo again, who has political challenges from his left in New York state even. I mean, there are real political differences with Andrew Cuomo, but he has set some of that aside to say, I'm in charge of the state for everyone. The welfare of one group is so deeply intertwined with the welfare of another group that the country has to decide whether they're gonna hold on to their racism

or they're gonna hold on to their country. What Mitch McConnell is doing by pressing his feet to the floor on this, he's going to break white supremacy in this country. Because I don't have to like you to want for all of us to be healthy. And what we're seeing with the hillbilly in Georgia, Brian Kemp,

we're seeing the mayors step up. One of my students, I was on one of my classes earlier, and she was circulating this piece on social media that said, here are black teenagers in Atlanta, said Ms. Keisha says stay indoors. I'm not listening to Brian Kemp. In Florida, you have an unemployment system that is so broken that that incompetent governor can't even get the benefits to the people who need them.

What these people are going to realize is when you choose your whiteness over your life, you're going to die. And so I encourage Mitch McConnell to continue this because what he's going to see is that the response to this is going to ensure, as Recy said, that we can maybe finally put these white nationalists on the dustbin of history.

It's going to happen sooner rather than later. And he knows it, which is why he's running as his clothes are on fire to the finish line, hoping he gets there because he before he bursts into flame. But I think he might burst into flame before he gets to the finish line. Folks, we talk about white supremacy, but we also talk. But look at what's happening to Africans in China. Folks, if you all have that video, roll that video where you are to see exactly how. Okay. All right. So here's what we do here.

I'm going to roll the video from here. I'm going to talk over this video. And so this is some video that's been uploaded by folks on social media. And if you're seeing the video, hopefully it's going through where Africans, Africans are being beaten. The African Africans are being beaten, beaten in markets. In fact, the Chinese were accosted a Nigerian diplomat who was trying to go and rescue his people. This is the kind of thing that's happening there in the country. And for some reason, and first of all, I'm trying to figure out why are they beating Africans for something

they did not start in Africa. Coronavirus impacted, first of all, started there in the Wuhan market. In fact, the McDonald's, the corporation had to apologize because at their McDonald's in one of the restaurants in China, they posted a sign saying no Africans allowed. And when that sign hit social media, McDonald's actually apologized. Joining us right now is Karen Atiyah. She is with The Washington Post. Karen, also Karen, y'all, is the journalistist of the Year for the National Association of Black Journalists. Karen, what's going on?

What's the deal? Why are Chinese attacking Africans over coronavirus? Right. So as we know, in the province or the city where this happened in Guangzhou, there is a burgeoning population of Africans who live there. And I think for people to sort of understand like China and Africa, I mean, in the last 10 to 20 years, China has been really trying to make a lot of inroads into Africa, whether it's investing billions upon billions in infrastructure, airports, roads. Many Chinese are actually moving to the continent and vice versa.

More and more Africans are also moving to China. I think what we're seeing now in terms of Chinese-African relations is this sort of pivot in some ways away from the West towards China that offers more opportunities, more foreign exchange opportunities for Africans. But here what we're seeing is the fact that anti-blackness is global, right? If people remember, even with the Ebola situation in 2014 to 2015, globally this tendency to associate Africans and black people with disease and poverty is something that I think is global. But what this is showing, I think, for Africans is that there is no sort of paradise anywhere when it comes to anti-blackness outside of the continent.

And it's shocking in the sense that, just like you said, Roland, this did not start in Africa. If anything, foreigners were the ones that brought it to Africa. My father actually just returned from Ghana, and there many people are suspicious of foreigners, are suspicious of whites and Chinese. Africans so far, despite the doom and gloom predictions, have actually done a better job in containing the virus, more so than the Western and Asian counterparts. So it really is just pure, unadulterated racism and scapegoating. And it's really harmed China's reputation in the continent now, as you said, politicians calling ambassadors from China to question them over this. One politician in one African country said, well, we should expel Chinese from there. But I think, again, it just points to this notion that Chinese awareness of race, of justice, of social justice has not matched with its political and economic might and

objectives with the continent. I'm going to bring in my panel right now. Recy, you have a question for Karen. Yeah, I think it's interesting in terms of what's happening in the United States and the xenophobia in the United States. Is there any sort of correlation you can see in terms of perhaps people making that consideration as well in China towards people they perceive to be foreigners? What's intriguing, I just read an article about how, I mean, as we know, China's internet and social media networks are heavily censored.

And that sort of outward xenophobia and racism is actually not policed very well at all on some of those networks like Weibo. And so this sense that I think for a long time, you know, you'll hear stories of Africans who have had a lot of problems in China when it comes to the awareness or sensitivities to black people, basically. There was not too, too long ago, a few years ago, the ad that ran in China for a soap company that had a black person in the opening scenes and the black person uses the soap and then comes out as a white Chinese person.

And it was only after international global outcry that the ad was pulled. The awareness, the sensitivity is just not there yet. And perhaps this outrage, this episode will perhaps lead to a situation where China knows that if it wants to do business with Africa, if it wants to protect its international image, it needs to do better. Greg?

Yes. I mean, it's really an honor. I'm glad to be here with you, Karen. Let me ask you a question about the long-range future of the continent. I know you, of course, you're folks Ghanaian, I'm assuming, by Ata. We know the relationship between China and Africa has always been complicated. Ghana, for example, I think the Chinese built the University of Ghana, Legon, when

Nkrumah was there and going forward. But I was very encouraged to hear you say that this attitude toward China may be shifting a little bit as China has basically moved into Africa wholesale. Do you see perhaps this moment finally breaking the logjam where continental Africans may not only look at China differently, but act a little differently as China has its designs to basically in some ways recolonize the continent? That's a really, really interesting question. I mean, a lot of people are beginning to look at this issue, and I think Howard French has

written an excellent book called China's Second Continent on this very issue. The last travels that I had in Ghana and Nigeria was this sense that, hey, look, like, all right, the Chinese, maybe they're not as warm and friendly, but what they're doing is they're bringing us roads that our governments couldn't do. They're bringing us airports. In fact, the last time I was in my grandmother's house

in Ghana, I saw textbooks in Chinese. And so I think that we're seeing this shift, and particularly as the West, as America, as Europe begin to turn inwards, at least at the governmental level, there are other options. As far as how people look at the continent, you see a lot of cheap Chinese imports, flooding markets, particularly I'm thinking of the textile market, Chinese counterfeit drugs that are unregulated, that are harming people in Africa. And there's this sense that there is an unwillingness or inability of governments to be able to regulate these products, these cheap and sometimes inferior and harmful products coming from China that are harming people. So I hope that this really, not just for China, but I think for African governments,

and obviously each government is different in how they deal with China. But that there is an increased realization that African governments need to rely on themselves, right, and to rely on homegrown African solutions for African problems type of approach, right? Because at the end of the day, China is going to look out for China. Chinese people are going to look out for the Chinese. Africa needs to think about its own long-term future. Let's see here. Recy, or is it Erica? I think

Recy already asked, right? Yeah, I did. So I'm going to go to Erica. Erica, go ahead. Sorry. Hi, Karen. So the last time I was in Ghana, I was amazed when I went to the township of Pone and saw how the Chinese had pretty much taken over the oil fields. So in thinking about and in seeing that and thinking about African-American businesses that have been impacted as well by a lot of what's happening by way of being evicted, not having business done because of this pandemic. Are you seeing how different maybe African-American business leaders are responding to a lot of what's happening? And are they lifting their voices?

Right. I think, in fact, Roland, I know you went to the year of return last year in Ghana. I think one thing, I mean, with the coronavirus pandemic, that is a big shame actually, is that for African Americans, those in the diaspora, tourism and investment was starting to become more and more of a priority for governments, particularly in Ghana and Nigeria. So I think that in some ways the crisis could present an opportunity right now the way that African leaders, but the main challenge, I mean not just public health challenge, that is massive, but the main sort of economic challenge that African governments are going to be concerned about is actually debt relief from China, from the West.

And a number of governments are looking to try to get their debts from the IMF and the World Bank possibly forgiven. But I do think that this is an opportunity for particularly anybody who cares about the continent. There are so many brands and so many entrepreneurs on the continent that are beginning to flourish. And we can't forget that many economies on the African continent are some of the fastest growing economies in the world, actually. So I think there is an opportunity for more conscious investment buyings. A lot of these retails, I'm thinking several in Ghana, that are online. And I think the main priority right now is obviously for these governments to keep people safe, because

we know that the healthcare systems would not be able to handle a full outbreak of the pandemic. But I would encourage people to look at women led businesses, partnerships, collectives to help them survive because they're going to be hit extremely hard. All right, Karen Atiyah. She's the Global Opinions Editor, the Washington Post, and the 2019 Journalist of the Year for the National Association of Black Journalists. Karen, thanks a lot. Thank you, Roland.

All right, folks. I was sitting here. I was texting while Karen was talking, Dr. Ebony Hilton. She posted on Twitter that she was just hot with the lies taking place at this White House news conference right now. We're going to have her on tomorrow. But what's so crazy, apparently this idiot Donald Trump has been talking, said something to the effect that allowing the sunlight into your body. Y'all, let me just read it.

Y'all, Abby Phillips tweeted, wow, Trump just suggested getting rid of coronavirus by bringing light inside the body, either through the skin or in some other way, or using disinfectant. Is there a way you can do something like that by injection or some other way? Dr. Bernstein comes up and says that sunlight as a treatment for coronavirus, not as a treatment.

Y'all want to know why we don't take this idiot live? It's because of that. This is precisely why this man is so stupid. He says dumb stuff like that. This is precisely why this man is so stupid. He says dumb stuff like that. In fact, Dr. Burks is actually at the podium right now. I'm going to go to her live real quick. We're going to get our next guest ready.

But she's probably trying to refute some stupid stuff. She's already actually stopped talking. I don't take this idiot live. In fact, no, no, just go to the idiot. Go to the idiot. Looking forward to November, the election. Given

the risk that the flu and the coronavirus could be a problem, do you think there is a risk that there will be some lack of agreement, lack of legitimacy of the results. You know what?

I'm sorry. I just can't, y'all. I can't abuse y'all and let y'all even look at Donald Trump. Bottom line is what we're dealing with is just crazy people, Greg. I can't imagine being a doctor. I can't imagine being a doctor. I can't imagine being a doctor, and you have to stand up there with somebody who just makes stuff up. Just makes stuff up.

And you've got to sit there and go, okay, I can't embarrass this fool, so how can I go up and now respond after this? Well, I think clearly, whether it be Fauci, you know, any of the doctors, they've made a choice. They think that by standing there and trying to, you know, massage this message, not only from Trump, who is clearly deteriorating before our very eyes, not only mentally, but even physically, you can just see the weight on him, but by another person who in some ways is even more of an apparent sociopath, and that is smiling Mike Pence. mentally, but even physically, you can just see the weight on him. But by another person who, in some ways, is even more of an apparent sociopath, and that is Smiling Mike Pence,

who kind of punctuates his answers with this, well, you know, we're coming and everything. These are two kind of polls on a continuum of sociopath. But if you're a doctor, you've got to make a decision at some point, and I think we might end up seeing a direct confrontation on that White House podium for those who watch it. But another thing I would say is that, while we're looking at this kind of distraction, and thank God you don't show it, Roland, as you said, McConnell's gonna try to continue

to pack the courts, they're gonna try to undermine the census, and they're gonna try to steal the election of 2020. So while they're letting this clown be a dissembling, deteriorating clown in public every day in his campaign rallies, they are very clearly working to ensure they

remain in power, and we cannot lose sight of that fact. I mean, Recy, I got I'm showing video of this fool at the podium. Recy, I got to read I got I'm showing video of this fool at the podium. Recy, I got to read. This is the quote. And then I see the disinfectant where it knocks it out in a minute. And is there a way we can do something by an injection inside or almost a cleaning? It would be interesting to check, that you're going to have to use medical doctors with. Preacher, this fool is saying,

could we inject disinfectant inside of humans to stop coronavirus? Damn! But you know, Donald Trump, people said it's what happens when a reality TV show host becomes president. This is what happens when an Internet troll becomes president. You know, a person who becomes an expert of a reading caption.

I mean, I saw the, I'm, you know how when you're talking to a troll, you have to try to trace back to where did this kind of originate? And I did see a story that talked about how sunlight is, it does kill coronavirus faster if you're in bright sunlight, but that was no way suggesting that sunlight itself is a treatment. There's a difference between a treatment for coronavirus and saying that coronavirus lasts so long under these conditions. And so that's what Donald Trump does. He's an internet troll.

He probably actually does get his information. We know he gets it from Fox News. But he also probably is surfing the internet, you know, all these crazy people on Breitbart or whatever else, and picking up whatever kind of conspiracy theories. He's the mean retweeter. He's a conspiracy theorist.

He's completely unintelligent. He's belligerent. He's ignorant. He's a buffoon. And he's going to get people killed. Listen, the beaches are reopening in some places. I'm telling you, and this is primarily to white folks because I think black folks have gotten the message.

We have our little secret code on Twitter with the whole G, you know, all that kind of stuff. Don't go out there sun tanning and get skin cancer trying to beat coronavirus by burning off your skin because it's not going to work no matter what Donald Trump says. Bob, you will be an

absolute fool, Erica, to listen to this idiot as he is talking about hum, disinfectant. Could we somehow inject that into the body of humans? He said, the doctors may want to look into that.

To me, I'm just waiting, as Greg said, Greg said at the competition, I'm just waiting for one of these people to just say, you know what? I got to cuss this fool out. I'm thinking about

that scene when Theo was talking to Cliff Huxtable, that famous scene, and Cliff was like, that's the dumbest idea I've ever heard in my life. I'm waiting for that moment to happen in one of these news conferences, Erica. Yeah, and I'm not holding my breath. And honestly, I'm going to continue to say that the thief comes to kill, steal, and destroy. And I think that for all of us that have lost

people very close to us, I'm thinking about my friend, my dear sister, Femi Anderson. I'm thinking about Rowena Daniels. I'm thinking about J.D. McRae. These are people that I know that have died as a consequence of coronavirus. So that the political malpractice, just the outright danger that he continues to put people in because our community is definitely prone to misinformation and disinformation is literally malpractice that's happening every day. So continuing to combat what Donald Trump gets airtime for five days a week, seven days a week, whenever he opens up his mouth, I think that this show and other shows that do combat by providing facts that do provide Black experts is of the utmost importance. And as long as he is allowed the space and the time to be able to do what he does, which does not impact him in a personal way, I think he's going to continue to kill people. I want to right now, I want to bring up our next guest, because we talk about this whole issue of

pandemics. Trust me, this in disparities, this goes back a very long time. The book is a groundbreaking book published in 1991 by my next guest. It looks at the health disparities from the 1900 to present day. The book is From TB to AIDS, Epidemics Among Urban Blacks Since 1900. David McBride is the author.

He's the professor of African American Studies and African American History at Penn State University. David, glad to have you on Roland Martin Unfiltered. For all these people out here who are going, oh, my God, this is a surprise. This is shock. The thing that you are saying point blank is that this is not a shock. This is not something that has happened for the first time. We have seen these health disparities play out for a long period of time affecting African-Americans.

Absolutely right, Roland. And thank you for having me. Can you hear me well? Yeah, we got you just fine. Okay. Well, yeah, disparities in black communities go back to the post-emancipation period. I mean, in the early 1900s, tuberculosis was so widespread throughout the nation and affecting blacks so extremely that there was many people in the medical establishment actually thought that black Americans would die out as a race. And there was much talk in the medical establishment, that is, physicians and medical schools and health leaders for the government, they actually thought that blacks were going to become extinct from tuberculosis.

That's how high the rates were and the mortality rates and such. Fortunately, blacks never bought into this idea, and they began to do what they did for 250 years under slavery. That is, they began to build their own institutions and their own networks and such to not only sustain their health, but to promote themselves as far as health goes. So this is the era around 1900 when you had people like Daniel Hale Williams emerge, the great heart surgeon. You had the development of National Negro Health Week, which was established by Booker T. Washington and also W.E.B. Du Bois and Howard University and Tuskegee University. They put this movement together so that the black community themselves could contribute to promoting their health on a daily and community and national level.

So while the politicians, the southern white politicians and medical establishment were expecting Blacks to die off and withholding resources from Black communities and such, because they felt that this was a fait accompli that would only take time. Black educators and religious leaders, civic leaders, and community activists put together their own institutions, something that I call throughout my writings, I call it the black medical world. Black medical schools, black nursing schools, many of them attached to the historic black colleges.

They came to the fore, and by World War II, we had about 200 black hospitals in the country. So what this did was, many of the black medical professionals and educators and such, they basically laughed at this idea that blacks were going to just die out and that, you know, they had certain biological tendencies to be weak in the face of health crises and epidemics like tuberculosis. We go into another stage of Black self-help in the health area during and after World War II. We see many of the Black medical associations, nursing associations and such, tried to keep up with the national modernization of hospitals and such that was occurring around the country. And we see a political movement come out of the ranks of black health promoters,

be they in the political sphere or be they in community institutions or religious institutions and such, they all began to say, look, hospitals are tiny. They can't keep up with these big growth of modern hospitals. So what we need to do is we need to get inside and integrate America's hospital structures. So we see in the 50s, alongside Brown v. Board of Education in the educational sphere, we see movements among Black doctors, among the Black civil rights organizations and such. We see them pushing to break down the barriers against Black patients and Black medical providers on the part of federally funded and federally supported and federally licensed hospitals.

So the In Hope Tip movement develops in the late 1950s, led by black physicians, they put a challenge to the American Hospital Association, the AMA, and basically they said, listen, you know, we fought World War II, you know, we fought Korea. Now we need to fight segregation here with regard to discrimination in hospitals. David, I have questions. I have questions from three of my panelists. I want to first start with Greg Carr. Then I'm going to go to Erica. Then I'm going to go to Recy.

Greg Carr, what's your question for David McBride? Just very quickly. Thank you, Professor McBride. And only on Roland Martin and Pilcher. Look, if we were not quarantined, I'd get you to sign my copy of your book, brother. You see, I got it right here. But my question really has to do with, given the fact that, and I haven't seen you on any other media outlet,

that you really have studied how epidemics have affected the black community since, as you say, the mid-19th century to now. What do you see as the future of Black institutions intervening as they've done in the past? I'm thinking about Meharry and Howard, Morehouse School of Medicine. What can Black institutions, what do you think Black institutions should be doing at this point in this moment of coronavirus to kind of work together and work with public health officials, civic leaders, to kind of really help us combat this issue? Well, you raise a great question, and you can get a lot of leads and tips by looking at what the Black institutions did during the HIV epidemic. In the early 1980s, the federal government was slow. The disease was heavily stigmatized. Blacks were among groups that were considered the most marginal in American society.

That is, your gays and your drug users and such. All of these folk were lumped together and ignored. And what many of the black institutions did was they just ran around, did an end run, and began to develop their own community activism. We see, for example, in New York City in the late 1980s, the black churches got together and formed a black coalition, black church coalition, involving over 700 black churches. And what they did, they became an arm for information dissemination. Black colleges had conferences and such relating to the growing AIDS crisis.

So whereas blacks were ringing a national alarm about AIDS, a lot of the federal health care providers and big academic centers and such did not see it as a problem. So black institutions are pivotal. And that's kind of where I was going with my initial lead-in at the top of my talk, is that no reduction of health disparities, historic health disparities that blacks experience can occur without blacks taking the lead in many different sectors. Black medical leadership, Black religious leadership, Black educational leadership, all of these institutions that are in and have hands on our Black neighborhoods and youth and such, they have to mobilize to the best of their capacity and show up at the table.

Roland had a great guest a week or so ago. I think his name was Bryant. His last name was Jonathan Bryant. But he was talking about... John Hope Bryant. Yes, sir. And he was talking about, you know, we have to have like a double consciousness. On one hand, we have to be able to mobilize our core institutions, which we can do, and they're always there for us. Last night, there was a great program on BET, the COVID-19 relief program, where all the superstars, actresses, and musicians and such got together and gave a great shot of inspiration out to the Black public. That's one example. And getting back to some other strategies,

we definitely need black political activists, just as Roland, your prior guests, Roland, Steve Horsford, we need the black congressional members to do exactly what they're doing now. They have to step up their advocacy, which they're doing. So I would, to answer Brother Carr's question, there's not one strategy, but a whole slew of strategies that are appropriate for your different institutions and such that Blacks have to galvanize and implement to start to push back this tidal wave of COVID-19 that has fallen on top of our pre-existing tidal wave of health disparities. Thank you. All right, folks, here's my next question. My next question?

Yes, sir. All right. Erica, you're up. Erica Orisi. Who's there? Okay, Erica, go ahead. Erica, go ahead. Erica, you're up. Professor McBride. Erica Orisi. Who's there? Okay, Erica, go ahead. Hi, Erica. I can hear you. Okay, great, Professor McBride. So I'm from Albany, Georgia. It's great to see you.

So very familiar with Millichville. And you answered my question a bit from Dr. Carr. You answered it partially from what the question Dr. Carr proposed. I'm just really wondering about how that information can be distilled and disseminated into rural communities, specifically communities that really don't receive the information in a timely matter. And by the time it is disseminated to those communities, they're already having devastating outcomes from that. So is there something that you have found or you've seen any mechanisms that are working in Black rural communities that's been effective in disseminating information around

COVID? Well, I have come across many cases in which public health nursing organizations, volunteer nursing organizations, they are usually equipped and trained to take complex medical information out into rural areas. And I would kind of check and see what they're up to, and maybe they need resources and such, but I'm sure they'd be happy to work with Black colleges or Black community organizations and churches and such to try to bring a message to the most needy in those rural areas. But I would also check with public health departments in the particular counties that you are addressing.

Even though they may not show up on a regular basis before this pandemic has hit, they oftentimes do have resources. They're happy to work with people, but we have to kind of, as going back to Jonathan Bryant's cue, you know, we kind of have to take the first step and see if we can get them galvanized and moving into our communities. But we can't do it alone. You know, and we have to work with

people who maybe we have not customarily worked with before. But I would say check with the well-being health centers in your area. Again, Visiting Nurses Association, and any other community hospitals and community health centers oftentimes are very interested in community outreach. All right. Last question here. And so let's go to Recy Colbert. Recy, what is your question for Dr. David McBride. Hi, Dr. McBride. My question is, how concerned are you with the misinformation, disinformation that targets our community? Erica touched on this a little bit earlier. I've seen kind of different conspiracies bandied about, like Bill Gates is funding a vaccine, and so it's going to be some sort of world takeover. And I've actually run across people that I consider to be intelligent Black people that are saying things like I'm not going to take a vaccine when it comes out.

So what can we do to combat or what kind of message would you can you send to black people who are concerned about the mistrust for potential medical treatments in the form of a vaccine or anything else that will come out of this pandemic? Wow, that's a great question. And everyone needs to turn that over many times after the show. But I'll just give you some quick thoughts. That is a big barrier. Many people say, well, we have to step up the testing to super high levels and such. And we all are in agreement. But we also know that there will be people who are not interested in giving,

you know, having any tests. They're scared of the results. They're scared they might be ostracized. There's a whole history of mistrust among the black public, black communities, individuals and such. There's a whole history of mistrust we can have a separate show on with regard to the medical establishment. I noticed that many people interviewed and such among the experts and the health care

providers, I'm not sure we see a lot of down-home type black physicians, men and women, you know, in the overall body of some of that coverage. And so what I'm getting at is cultural competencies. And what I'm getting at is the fact that people from within the culture, let's say health promoters and medical caregivers who are from within the culture, they are most effective in circumscribing, overcoming some of these lay conspiracy ideas and resistance and fear, just straight-up fear that a lot of black lay people have with respect to exposing themselves to testing or to interviewing or to contact tracing and things of that sort.

That's why we need to have that meeting between community lay elements as well as skilled medical caregivers, whether they're professionals or in the allied fields. We need to bring both of those elements together when we work with the black public. A lot of those conspiratorial fears and such are grounded in history and culture of racism that has been embedded in much of health care provision throughout the history of this country. All right, folks, the book is called, I want to get it right, From TB to AIDS, Epidemics Among Urban Blacks Since 1900. David McBride is the author. He is the professor. Yes. Roland, may I make one quick comment? I have a new book. Real quick.

It's called Caring for Equality. Caring for Equality just came out. If you go to Penn State University African American Studies webpage, you'll get information on how to contact me. But the new book, Caring for Equality, it includes a lot of ideas and such that you'll find in From TB to AIDS. Thanks so much, Roland. Okay. I appreciate it, sir. Thank you so very much.

All right, folks. Take care. Thank you very it, sir. Thank you so very much. All right, folks. Thank you very much, folks. Coming up, we're going to have something great coming up in just a moment, and that is the Black Women's Roundtable. It's going to be having their Power Table Talk series. Melanie Campbell, she is the president and CEO, National Coalition of Black Civic Participation. She's the convener of the Black Women's Roundtable. She is going to be joined by Karen Finney, Amy Allison, founding president of She the People, Cleola Brown, president of the A. Philip Randolph Institute, Latasha Brown, co-founder of Black Voters Matter, Glenda Carr, co-founder and president and CEO of Howard Heights for America,

Bishop Leah Daltrey. She's the author and co-convener of Power Rising, Dr. Avis Jones DeWeaver, author and founder of Exceptional Leadership Institute for Women, and Mignon Moore, author and co-convener of Power Rising. So they're going to be coming up in just a second for an amazing conversation. But what I did want to do this year, I told you,

for the folks who joined our Bring the Funk fan club, the folks who came in at $50 or more, we certainly appreciate that. We have been, it has been amazing seeing the response of folks supporting the show. I told you this week, those folks who gave at those levels, we're going to get a personal shout out on the show. Here we go. Aaron Brown, Almeda Graham, Andrea Cooper, Andrea Griffin, Bernard McIver, BMAC Productions, Busy as a Bee Productions, Byron Greenidge, Caffey's Avon Corner,

Candice Hill, Charlene Pitchford, Consuelo Cooks, Darius Simmons, David Coleman, David L. Brown Jr., Dexter Muckle, Diane Luther, Danella Houston, Ellis Lopez, Travel Partners, LLC, Gentle Bee Star, LLC, Jermaine Wells, Jason Johnson, John Colburn, Julian Wilson, Kristen Graves, Lloyd Kirkendall, Lori Saunders, Lorraine Sweet, Maurice Patton, Maxine Chen, On Deck Printing, Pamela Whitfield, Paula Goddard, Renetta English, Robert Mariner, Rodney Bradley, Roslyn Wilson, Selena Tamu, Sherri Lynn Pringle, Sharon Rutherford, Sherman Wright, Sherri Ford, Sherrilyn Parham, Steve Rogers, Tanya Whitley, Tracy Caraway, Vicki Wynn, and Vivian Burns. And so I certainly appreciate all of you.

And so the folks, so what we do is the cutoff is 5 p.m. You give after that, and then we'll be reading your name out on the show tomorrow. A few people hit me up saying, hey, I didn't hear my name. And so just send us an email. And now you know we're gonna double check first. You know we're gonna do that first. That's how we gotta do that, Greg Carr. Some folks try to slide in there, we're trying to get a shout out.

But we certainly appreciate all the folks who support Roller Barton Unfiltered. Thanks for the shortened conversation. Normally we go two hours with just our panel, but because of this special we're doing with Black Women's Roundtable, they are going to now pick it up. Folks, don't go anywhere. Trust me, you don't want to miss the conversation.

But again, I want to thank Recy. I want to thank Erica. I want to thank Greg for being on our panel. Thank you so very much. Great conversation there. And y'all, just do me a favor. Do not listen to that idiot Donald Trump. Don't walk around, put some disinfectants in your damn mouth thinking that's going to get rid of coronavirus. That's a doggone shame, the stupidity. But you don't want to miss tomorrow's show.

Dr. Erica Hilton, y'all, she is hot. And Greg, she used the phrase that Reesey, she used the phrase, I'm just going to read this one here. She said she was 38 hot. Now, Erica, I didn't know what the hell 38 hot was. She said that's a country phrase. It is. So she had to send me. It is. So, Erica, you know about 38 hot, right?

All day long and cutting folks and daring them to bleed, baby. Woo! Okay, so she had to send me this, Recy. 38 hot, originating down south. This term refers to someone being pissed off to the point of pulling out a gun. That's how mad she was

watching Donald Trump today. So she's going Dr. Erica is going to be with us tomorrow. She's going to explain why she... Dr. Ebony. Jane Hilton? Is that who you're referring to? us tomorrow. Well, she's going to explain why. Dr. Ebony. Jane Hilton. Is that who you're referring to?

She's going to explain why she was so 38 hot. Let's do that. All right, folks. Now we're about to transition to this great conversation with Black Women's Roundtable. Y'all take it away. Thank you, Roland. Thank you, Roland. Thank you, Roland. Roland Martin-Unfiltered, thank you so very, very much for the partnership and speaking truth to power every day. My name is Melanie Campbell,

and I am the president and CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, and also the convener of the Black Women's Roundtable. So we welcome you to the launch of our Power Table Talk series. And today's topic, we're going to, this is our first, our very first. And this is, we're bringing you

into a Power Table conversation with, and you're going to hear that word, power, power, power a lot tonight. Why? Because Black women are owning our power. And so we decided we would bring this conversation on as we're all dealing with the coronavirus pandemic and just having many of us who are really privileged in many ways to be able to shelter at home because so many of our folks are having to get out there who are first responders

and have to go out there every day at the hospitals and sanitation workers and so many folks who are out here having to be out here every day to make sure the grocery store workers and the list go on, the ambulance drivers and the bus drivers and so many of our folks who have to get out there every day. So we are in deep privilege to be able to shelter at home, those of us who can. And then there are those who are not, who don't even have a home. So we're blessed. So today we're going to have this conversation.

My role is not to be a speaker or a moderator. But the first, this first conversation, our inaugural Power Table conversation topic is the power of black women's leadership and vote in 2020 presidential election. And so we are just delighted to have our inaugural moderator, Karen Finney, who's a political consultant who you've seen her on MSNBC, and she's done so many awesome things as a political strategist and leader, not just in media, but as in working with various campaigns, Stacey Abrams' campaign, and I'll get to calling off all your campaigns and work on national and state elections.

But she's just a powerful black woman who speaks truth to power. She smiles, but don't let that smile fool you. So I'm going to turn it over to Karen Finney, who will introduce our first Power Table panelist. And I thank all of you all, the sisters who are on this line. There will be a second panel that will start in about 45 minutes from here, which will be around about 8 o'clock. So I'm going to turn it over to Karen to get us started. And thank you. KAREN FINNEY, All right.

Thank you so much, Melanie. This is so exciting to be part of this conversation, and particularly in this moment, because, yes, we're dealing with COVID, but, you know, we know the election is coming in November, and we have got to be ready, and we've got to be extra ready, I think, than even before, because we know the power of black women is what is going to propel Joe Biden to the presidency, or at least propel Donald Trump out of it, let's put it that way. And so it's so important that we have these conversations and we share information and

that we share knowledge and wisdom and share that with our networks. I'm going to quickly introduce our panel and then jump right into our questions. We are joined by Amy Allison, founder and president of She the People, Clayola Brown, president of the A. Philip Randolph Institute, Latasha Brown, co-founder of Black Voters Matter, Glenda Carr, who is co-founder, president, and CEO of Higher Heights for America. Bishop Leah Daughtry, who is a mentor, also author to me, also author and co-convener of Power Rising, which I'm honored to be a part of. Dr. Avis Jones DeWeaver, who is author and founder, Exceptional Leadership Institute for Women. And Mignon Moore, another mentor, we've traveled many political roads and miles together. She is also an author and a co-convener of Power Rising. So I'm going to start with really the hot topic, I think, of the day, of the week, certainly.

Joe Biden announced this week that he will be, you know, we've had some speculation for some time, but this week he made it official that he's going to very soon announce the vetting team for his vice presidential nominee and really kick that process off. And so I think the most important question that we could start with, and maybe Mignon, I'll start with you, and then I'll just ask to go around and everybody please weigh in. You know, now, he said a woman. I think some of us thought we heard a woman of color, but how important is it that it's a black woman?

And then I'll also ask the other panelists to weigh in in terms of why it's important and what that will do in terms of how we think about this election and governing. Well, thank you. Thank you, Karen. And, Melanie, thank you for convening this panel. I'm honored to be on with so many prestigious women who I've worked with and admire. I think to the answer to your question is, for me personally, and I only speak for me

because I'm the only one in my house, I am social distancing from everybody. I'm alone in this house. But for me, I hope that he considers an African-American woman a black woman. I feel pretty strongly about that. And it's not because, you know, I think I'm tired of we just happen to be qualified. I'd just like the American people to know that we are qualified. And some of the names that I've heard that have been floated out there, I think each one of these women, if you look at their credentials, that's what the vetting process is all about. If you look at their credentials, they are immensely qualified to do this job. I think we have to affirm our credentials.

Black women tend to affirm other people's credentials. But I think this is a time where if you look at each one of these women that are being named, we do a disservice to them if we cannot affirm who they are. And so I am excited about the process. I'm excited about the fact that Joe Biden is our nominee. But I'm also excited about the process. I'm excited about the fact that Joe Biden is our nominee, but I'm also excited about the potential of seeing so many beautiful faces that look like yours in that vetting process. Anyone else want to weigh in? Avis, Amy? Sure. Absolutely. You know, to me, this is a no-brainer. The fact of the matter is, if it were not for black women and the black community, it is a great likelihood that Vice President Biden would not be the presumptive nominee at this moment.

It is not a stretch at all to say that that campaign was literally on its last legs when South Carolina came in and changed the whole dynamic, completely flipped the script. And then we get it over and over and over again, state after state after state in North Carolina, in Virginia, obviously in Mississippi, in states just all over the nation. Now, I say that not just to say that we are old, even though we are old.

I say that to also remind us of the power of Black women as voters in America, generally speaking, and also specifically within the Democratic Party. And if he wants to win in November, he needs to think about how are you going to energize the Black community to overperform in terms of turnout, especially in key states that he needs to make sure he carries, like Pennsylvania, like Ohio, like Michigan, like Wisconsin, key states where the black turnout could be the margin of victory. So to me, it's an issue of not only really giving where a debt is owed and deserving, because obviously we're qualified.

There's lots of us who are qualified. But it's also about looking forward in terms of what is actually necessary to energize the electorate to win in November. And you will not have an energized electorate to the maximum of its capabilities unless you energize black women. And there's no better way to do that than to have a black woman on the ticket.

Leah? You know, the other piece that I just want to offer is that in addition to that, and ditto that everything has been said, there's a particular contribution of black women's leadership. Like, if America ever needed the leadership of a black woman, it is right now. And I think that we also, there is a particular, you know, some of the most qualified leaders that have progressive voices in this country are black women. And so it's not just a matter of, you know, oftentimes we see it in the context of identity

politics and tokenism. No, constantly on the forefront of progressive politics in this country has always been black women. And so part of it has been our leadership style, part of it has been our leadership in context of how, what it took for us to get to those places to really be able to lead and who we represent. The second thing has been also our attachment, our affirmation. Whenever we have seen, and we get in spaces, I often say, whenever Black folks fight for something, all of America does better, right?

And we've got the receipts for that. So I also think this is a fundamental moment around the leadership of Black women. It's needed in this particular moment. Yeah. That's right. To that, I would add that I think we have to recognize that this November is going to be an election unlike any that we've seen before, because we will be coming out of the, well, at least we hope, pray, maybe we might be in the aftermath of COVID. We may have a different kind of election system with more states adopting

absentee balloting and vote by mail. And those are circumstances, if a large part of the country goes to vote by mail and absentee balloting, we have no organizing experience in that kind of election. And so it will take the creativity, the influence, and the ability to move people in the way that only black women can in order to make sure that our people turn out. Our people don't have a lot of experience. Most Americans don't have a lot of experience with filling out a ballot and getting a stamp and taking it. We don't know how to do that. So it's going to take our ingenuity and the way that we know how to knock on doors and not just take ourselves to vote, but take our house to vote, our neighbor,

down the hall, across the street, to get people to do something that is unfamiliar to them in order to show, in order to not just reach our normal levels of voting, but to exceed that. And in order to do that, you're going to have to generate the kind of enthusiasm that nominating a black woman vice presidential candidate will engender among black women. Yeah. I couldn't agree more, Bishop.

And I think a lot of the points really point to the fact that it's not just our leadership and our political vision, it's our numbers and our turnout that it's not, you know, people will say, well, is this just a historic thing or is this just a moral statement? No, buddy. This is the most strategic path to winning in November. states, the battleground states that were mentioned earlier today. We're focused on black women elevating turnout and really being that key vote in places like Arizona, Texas, Georgia, there's some Georgians on the call, Florida, as well as the Midwest states. We could have a situation, and we're at that cusp right now, where Joe Biden's campaign has a decision.

It can go the direction that Hillary Clinton went, which is to pick a Tim Kaine character, which was not an inspiring, remember a lot was made of the fact that he spoke Spanish. They were like, oh, he'll act. We know that that's not true and it doesn't work. But the other option is to balance out his ticket. There's so many black women who are ready to be president right now, and that has been the case. That's right. We don't want a repeat of 2016.

That's how we got here with the damage that Trump and the Republicans have done to this country. And so, just like we said in 2016, we say now follow the leadership of black women. We're not saying it like a hashtag. We're saying, put a qualified leader who's ready to be president, you know, on the ticket, who can carry some of these battleground states, holds that progressive political vision that motivates so many of us black women. That's the actual strategic path to the White House. So, Glenda, I want to get you both in here, but I'm just going to tweak this question

a little bit, because I think, you know, we've talked a lot about turnout. I think it's also very important that we talk about governing, right? Because Biden has said he wants somebody he's simpatico with. I would just remind him he was simpatico with Barack Obama. They made history. Why not make it again? That's my personal opinion. But I think it's important that we also remind people, and, Glenda, obviously this is an important part of the work that, you know, that you do, is pushing forward the leadership of black women, the competence, the qualifications, the, you know, the confidence that we should have in black women's ability to, as I say, be a governing

partner to Joe Biden, you know, because I think it's very possible. We don't know where we'll be. God willing, he wins. And it's January 2021. Will we be in a second wave of COVID? We've heard that from doctors. Will we be still, we'll certainly still be in an economic recovery stage. So, you know, he's going to need a team and a governing partner who can really help him come at this thing. So maybe Cleola and Glenda, if you could weigh in on that part of it. Well, it's a great segue, Karen, for what I was already going to talk about. Thank you.

I do my best. Is that if you look at the short list of all the women that people are talking about that could be possible vice president mates, as well as the black women, they all possess foreign, you know, you have people that have foreign affairs policy background. You have congressional members who started out on local level. So they know local governments, they know statewide governments, they know federal, how to govern federally, they know how to work across party lines, they are, you know,

they have backgrounds in business, they have backgrounds as attorneys. That all being said, I need America and I need black America to recognize that black women are ready to lead in this moment. The only thing standing in the way is our perception of what we think leadership looks like. And leadership does not need to be white, all white. It does not need to be male and it does not need to be a male of a certain age. So if you close your eyes right now and put the resumes of every woman that is on that short list, and I'd throw some men on that, you would open your eyes, with your eyes closed, you would pick probably one of the black women that has been named.

Great point. Cleola, did you want to weigh in? Yeah, I did. A piece of what Bishop Dutcher said a little bit earlier about familiarity to, I know we're not talking about the GOP piece, but specifically about a black female as a candidate. But in line with that, which is vitally important, black women have ground game. Relationships in the various communities and that outreach that we have just by being on a ticket shores up all of the shortnesses that we're talking about as well without a female being

on that ticket. It's really hard to keep saying to folks that we've got to do this, we've got to do this, we've got to do this, and they never see a reflection of self. Mm-hmm. to do this, and they never see a reflection of self. The proof of that pudding was certainly measured before in our turnout. The proof of survival from now until November is the piece that really is pretty scary to me. This virus is going to block a lot of folks from letting anybody come and talk to them about anything. It's going to open the door for them.

And the conversations on the telephone is also really, really hard to do because everybody's begging for money, soliciting for something else, or have no relationship with the people that they're calling. Part of my saying that is this. If we are able to get what is due us during this marrying up of the candidates that will represent the Democratic Party, or I certainly don't have a whole lot to say about the Republican Party, but I'm trying to do this without my partisan hat on. We've got to be able to have a game that's so tight during this time that we can at least reach the end goal that's out there. I can think of no better candidate than a woman of color

being a part of that ticket. I also think we forget, we don't always give ourselves enough credit. We know how to do politics. We have ground game, but we can do politics, right? And on a ticket, we can help do the politics that need to get done in order to continue to build the kind of coalition and support that Biden will need, but in also in governing, right?

Which is gonna be so important. And one of the things that I think is, someone mentioned that it's so important about the fact that these women also have local experience and state experience. That is one of the areas where Trump is completely blowing it in terms of has no ability to, and has really, I think, kind of given up any authority to really coordinate to make sure supply chain issues are being dealt with so that we're getting testing

or that resources are getting where they need to. And so I think, you know, to what Glenda was saying, if you, you know, just put down on paper and look at what these women have done, it's such an important part that I think also doesn't get, isn't necessarily, doesn't get enough conversation and isn't always valued enough, frankly. I want to move us on, because obviously the VP piece is critically important. But this is a big election for black women who are on the ballot. In other, right, we have a record number of black women who won in 2018 who are now, thankfully, part of the Congressional Black Caucus whose seats we need to defend, we need to make sure they

are reelected. And then we have some, you know, young women, black women running for the first time in a number of different offices. And, you know, Glenda, I'm going to actually ask you to kick this off because I think you probably have the best working knowledge of who all the various candidates are. But I think it's also important as we think about, and I guess the question that I put to the group is, you know, what are the other ways we need to think about, and I guess the question that I've put to the group is, you know, what are the other ways we need to think about growing the political power of Black women in the context of an election? Yep. So I'll start with, this has been my place where I do my Zoom meetings and who's always over

my shoulder is Shirley Chisholm, right? And so we're 51 years from her being elected to be the first black woman to ever serve in the United House of Representatives. So we have made major gains, but the 23 million black women in this country are still underrepresented and underserved, right? And so we have an opportunity to not only change the face of leadership, but change that face of leadership with unique qualities. So the freshman class that was elected in 2018, what brought that was not just that they were black women, but we sent a nurse, a teacher, a city council member, a state legislator who is a Somalian refugee, and a mother of a slain black boy.

So they bring their unique experiences to those decision-making tables, and they're exactly where they need to be. We have the 2016 Teacher of the Year, Johanna Hayes, being part of a conversation about how do we educate every child during COVID-19. We have a nurse in Lauren Underwood sitting at that decision-making table. And this is just a handful of the women that came in in 2018 on the federal, statewide,

and top 100 cities. We have black women that are, like, leading these major cities from Chicago to Atlanta to New Orleans to Baton Rouge. There's seven black women, right? So that being said, we need to expand that leadership and expand that leadership with amazing backgrounds. So what will, at the end of the day when the numbers come in, we need to expand that leadership and expand that leadership with amazing backgrounds. So at the end of the day when the numbers come in, we will have another record number of black women running for particularly Congress in districts that are not districts that are

black and brown districts. Like they're running in districts like a Lorne Underwood, a district that is only 3 percent African American, which shows people are looking for qualified experience and they happen to be black, amazing black women, right? And so we have veterans running, we have mothers, school board members, all running for Congress in Texas to Indiana

to the deep South. All that being said is the top of the ticket in COVID-19 obviously is at the front of all of the conversations happening in the media. We need people to be able to talk about these women and being able to get their message out. And we'll be able to not only bring more black women into Congress, but also, frankly, be able to not only bring more black women into Congress, but also, frankly, be able to elect black women down ballot, including creating a larger pipeline of black women

so that the one place that we can continue to have a lack of representation, frankly, is on statewide executive levels. So we've never had a black woman governor in our 243 year history, and we only have six black women currently serving in statewide executive office. So there's a lot of work to be done, and the African American vote has a real important role to play in not only voting for these women, but sending financial resources and volunteer hours to be able to help them get out the vote in their primaries and in November.

Natasha, you wanna weigh in? I just wanna add some quick things because I think that is really important. I think we know that black women leadership in our community, but I'm so glad that the work that my sister is doing to really be able to highlight, Glenda's doing to highlight black women. Well, we've got to have some real conversations around this too that are really based in the

fact that we need black women candidates to be able to have more investment in their campaigns. That oftentimes, you know, one of the few organizations is Higher Heights that has actually been raising resources for black women. There are not enough organizations and there are not enough groups that are actually been raising resources for black women. There are not enough organizations and there are not enough groups that are actually leveraging and make sure that there are campaign dollars for black women.

The other couple of points I want to make is that we also got to deal with this issue of sexism within our communities. That oftentimes what we see as late as last year, in 2018 election, my partner and I, we went around with doing work throughout in Florida and I was not allowed to be able to speak at a church because I was a woman. Right?

We in 2020, we still there, y'all. And we're not having those conversations in our community because it's good enough for us to serve. We're good enough to really be able to do the work. But ultimately, when it comes to leadership, there's a fundamental issue around sexism that we've got to deal with that I also think that we've got to deal with in our community that we don't talk about. And then the third thing I want to say is that there are black women that run.

And when those black women run and they're not supported in a certain kind of way, it does something around, it's really hard for us to really say, I'm going to put myself back out there because it's really hard to run. Sisters run, run, run, because it's really hard to run. Sisters run, run, run, run.

Abraham Lincoln ran seven times. And so we've got to encourage sisters to run and seek public office too, and dispel and push back when folks always want to raise up the issue around qualifications when it comes to women and who's able to govern, right? But they don't hold that same standard when we're looking at white male leadership or even male leadership within our own communities. Anyone else want to weigh in?

Yeah, Mignon. Oh, amen. That's what I would say, amen. That is absolutely the truth. And I think that it's important for us to focus on what LaTosha said, because, you know, when our women, when African-American women run for office, they are the least supported. They are the least supported financially.

You know, I look at what Lucy McBeth has to go through right now, and she's going to have, you know, an awful race, but she is, like, she's doubling down and she's doing her thing. And, you know, some people are for, some people aren't for, but we must be for them. And one of the reasons why I'm delighted that we are all gathered here today, because we have to affirm each other. We don't have to like each other. We don't even have to take each other home. But we have to do more affirming each other, especially if we know these women have paved the way and they are doing the work to even run. That whole list of people that Glenda rattled off, we still have judges. All those women that were elected in Houston,

they're up. I mean, I met with them. They are up. So we have to support our judges. We talk about criminal justice reform. Then we have to get in the pipeline. You know McConnell has already appointed over a hundred federal judges, so that is going to be a, that's a stepping block that we have to go over. So we really need to stay focused on the fact that if we see a black or brown woman out there running, yes, we can look at our qualifications. But, you know, we've seen a lot of people fail up. Now, I'm just going to tell you, it's been a lot less qualified than half the women that are running. I'm just going to put it out there. So please don't be so judgmental that we all of a sudden got to put these extra barriers around our women. You know, if we know they got integrity,

if we know they can, you know, if they know they're willing to do the work, then I think we need to get behind them. And I'm really big this year on, can we band together? You know, I don't care if you don't like me. I really want you to just understand that our future is at stake. And we have more at stake than I think anybody in America.

We have held America up, and it's time for America to hold us up. Do you hear me? America. AMBASSADOR HALEY- Amen. Because I'm saying this to our allies out there as well. It's time for you all to hold us up as well. AMBASSADOR as well. Yeah. I would, I, that's so profound and important.

The thing about black women's leadership, which is for me the reason it is the moment, isn't only that a Lauren Underwood could be successful and flip a district that's 3% white. It's that a Stacey Abrams in a swing state of Georgia can expand the Asian American and the Latinx vote, could expand and appeal to progressive whites and expand the electorate overall. We see black women that are running for office at the county level or at the state level

who are able to speak the language of racial justice. And I think right now, a lot of the country, a lot of America is looking to black women to be the moral leader and also the ability to bridge. When we started the conversation talking about Joe Biden, Joe Biden's first big commercial was something that really used anti-Asian tropes in order to make an argument that he should be president.

It wasn't aimed at and didn't have the language that connected his campaign with not only just Asian Americans, but you know, we black people recognize racism when we see it. So there is something really needed, healing about the power of black women to attract and build a coalition at the local, state, and the federal level. It's what we're going to need this year, but it's the quality of black women's leadership and the courageousness with which we advocate for other communities as well as our own that I think really positions us very well. We need to bring in more money and organize ourself

and also tap other communities for the support that I think is out there for black women's leadership. I know we are coming towards the closing of our session. I've got another question I wanna put forward, but just before we leave this topic, I wonder Cleola or Avis or Leah, if you want to weigh in on this point that Mignon made about how we also get other groups to invest in us, believe in us, lift us up, because it does feel like, you know, we're always asked and our groups are always asked to, you know, sign on to other

people's letters or movements or, and that's important. And, you know, sign on to other people's letters or movements or, and that's important. And, you know, where there is common issue, you know, common ground, I think working in coalition is important, but it feels like, you know, do we feel like we get that same return when we go and ask for that support, which is also part of building political power for black women? I would just jump in first and say that unfortunately we don't. I mean, the reality is that oftentimes we are the center, the moral center, quite frankly, I believe, of this nation.

And so when we see wrong, we naturally go and raise our voices and act in fellowship and act in allyship with various other groups. However, when it comes to our issues and issues that are specific to our needs, it is as if we always have to fight those battles alone. And it's particularly frustrating to me. And, you know, I wish I had the answer as to what needs to be done to get people to act right. But I don't know. Because I've seen this over and over again.

And yes, we can reach out to them. Yes, we can let them know that their support would be appreciated and is needed. And quite frankly, should have happened anyway without having to ask. But the reality is that it is not as, it seems not to be as reflective when that sort of support is coming towards us as our help is reflexive when we reach out to other groups. You know, maybe some of my sisters can come up with the answer to that question. So it's the million dollar question. And maybe if we had that answer, we would, you know, this whole issue of will we, you know, be the VP pick, will we be able to retain the political power that we have now and even

grow it, wouldn't even be in question because God knows we deserve it. Right. So I will, does anyone else want to weigh in before I move on to our last topic? Okay, last question. I think some of the folks who hopefully have joined us tonight may themselves be thinking about running for office or putting themselves out there for a leadership position in an organization. I would add that to this conversation. So, Leah, I'm going to start with you and ask you, what is your advice to someone who is, you know, thinking about putting themselves up for office? Well, I think a couple things. One, understand and be really clear about why you are running.

What is your value system? What is it that you hope to accomplish? No one can explain it better than you. And if you can't explain it, you can't expect the voters or your team to be able to come up with a platform that you don't have for yourself. So you gotta be very clear about your value system,

very clear about what you're hoping to accomplish should you be successful. Secondly, you've gotta have a backbone of steel. People don't just walk into office. There is a reason why it is so hard and why the obstacles are so many. Because power is what we're seeking in order to make changes for our people and for our communities. Nobody is going to just let you walk into City Hall or walk into Congress.

You're going to have to fight for this. So you've got to be prepared. As my mother would say, girdle up your loins, get some steel in your spine, and be prepared for the fights that are going to come to you, and some from some unexpected places. Be prepared for that. And you've got to have your head on straight and be ready to walk into those battles. And the last thing I'm going to say, get your girls.

Whoever your girls are that are going to back you up, pump you up, stand you up, stand you up, hold you up on the days when you are tired and when you can't remember why you're running. You need your girls with you that's going to say, come on, get it together, go in the bathroom, cry, let me give you some tissue, come out, we got stuff to do, let's go, we can do it. You got to have that team around you of women.

For me, it's always been women who are like, come on, let's go. We can do it. You've got to have that team around you of women. For me, it's always been women who are like, come on, let's go. And if you've got those three things, I think, you know, that doesn't guarantee you win, but at least your head is on straight and you've got the mental game to win the fight. We need to play that for thousands. Thousands of people.

Right at the beginning, at the decision point, because- I'm ready to run, Leah. I'm ready to run. Right? Come on. I mean, you're talking about, I ran for city council, you know, 12-

Joking, joking, joking. I ran for city council 12, 13 years ago, where, you know, I didn't have that kind of speech. I didn't have that kind of network. I didn't go into any kind of training. I didn't go to, you know, higher heights training or anything. I didn't have a kind of speech. I didn't have that kind of network. I didn't go into any kind of training. I didn't go to, you know, higher heights trainer or anything. I didn't have a mentor. It's painful. It's painful. And the biggest thing that I know, I'm in a position to help women who want to run, women of color who are running, and I'm in a position to help. The biggest thing

I say is build your network. When you say got your girls, that's the people who love you anyway, win or lose. Also build your network of people who will write you a check and people who will pump you up and speak on your behalf. And that's been very helpful, I think, for people who now I see and I can, for the benefit of experience, me running and losing all those years ago, I can say, okay, these are the things that will help you to get through the other side, ready to fight for the people. You know, can I, and I think the other thing

that I'd say to a candidate, especially for women, let preparation be your friend. Because part of what happens with women when they enter into this process, they enter into the process as one person. By the time they're done, it's 15 or 20 people. And most of them, even in our campaigns, are white and male. So they lose a sense of themselves.

They lose their voice. And once they lose their voice, they lose their compass. Once they lose their compass, they lose their race, because you can no longer distinguish who they are. So, you know, I really do tell people, spend some time with yourself. You really, really have to know who you are when you decide to run for office. Because I think somebody said it, it is a tough, tough, tough business. There's probably a reason why none of us are in office right now. We'd rather help you become that person. I'm happy to help anybody do it. I'm just not

going to do it myself. Know yourself. And I tell you, that's almost the most crucial thing you can do for yourself, is spend some time with you, because then your values won't be going. Because people really know when you're not authentic now. And you start putting your finger to the wind, that's when they're going to go to the next

person and it'll be easy for them to do it. And I think if you are thinking about running for office or you know somebody that's running for office, there are resources out there for women. And there are particularly a growing number of resources out there uniquely designed for Black women. And so I'll just offer up five resources. Obviously, I'll offer up Higher Heights for America in our webinar series. There's research that we have done with the Center for American Women in Politics. So we know there's barriers in front of

black women running for office. One of them is not only are we not encouraged to run for office, we are actually actively discouraged from running for office. And oftentimes that means you may not even go to a physical training because it outs you to your community that you're thinking about running for office. So the Higher Heights training is a webinar opportunity where you can quietly be in your corner

as you think through if this is the path that you are meant to be on. There is Emerge America has an extensive training program. The Yale Campaign School has a summer program. The Black Campaign School by Collective Pack is at four or five. And Emily's List. So there are a variety of things where you can get the tools you need to be able to start

putting together your kitchen cabinet, starting to put together your plan, and starting to put together your team. But you have to win the primary of self-first, going back to what Reverend Daughtry said. And it is something about being uniquely designed. Shirley Chisholm said once, you don't make progress whimpering and complaining on sidelines. You make progress by implementing ideas. And that is what we need for black women's leadership in this moment. And I also want to bring up money, money, money, money.

At the end of the day, if you're running for office, you have money. And it doesn't necessarily, I think what we need, also I want to lift up, we need more PACs by black women. We need more people to contribute more PACs by black women. We need more people to contribute to PACs like black women and other C4 organizations like Sister Lead, Sister Vote. We need to support the infrastructure that can also, because oftentimes we see these white candidates, it's not just them and their campaign. There's a whole nother infrastructure that is actually helping to push and mobilize that candidate and putting money in their campaign. And so we need to have more and develop more Black PACs in our community and our people.

We've got to support those PACs as well. Clayola or Avis, final thoughts before we wrap up? Advice? I'm good. I will quickly just say amen to everything that has been said, but know that we have shown over and over again that we are the engine behind getting other people in power. I think it's time that more of us take advantage of the opportunity to be the power. And that's what happens when we run and we win.

And there's so many resources out here to help you. So definitely I want to encourage my sisters to do that. I'm going to add one piece of advice of my own. It kind of goes with something that Mignon was saying. And that is, you know, when you have that kitchen cabinet and those friends, have the two people, one or two people that you know will tell you the truth. Because, you know, too oftentimes people, you know, are afraid to tell you the truth because they don't want to hurt your feelings. And, you know, are afraid to tell you the truth because they don't want to hurt your feelings.

And, you know, this is a contact sport. If you're going to get into politics, you need to have people who will look you in the eye and tell you the truth and know that it's, you know, you're still friends or that you're still have a relationship because you need those people around you. Well, it is 7.56. So Melanie, we are ending four minutes early because I think we were allowed to go to 8 o'clock. But I just want to thank this amazing panel. What a wonderful way to kick off this Power Table series. So much wisdom and power, and I'm looking forward to the next panel, and just thank you all

for taking the time and being so generous with your time tonight as part of this inaugural event. to the next panel. And just thank you all for taking the time and being so generous with your time tonight as part of this inaugural event. Thank you. This is wonderful. I'm inspired. Thank you, Karen.

Bye. Thank you, Daisy, Clay, Latasha, Glenda, Bishop Leah, Dr. Avis, and Sister Mignon. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for all y'all doing. And you're awesome. Bye-bye. Thank you so much.

We're gonna shift right on. If you wanna hang in with us, join in, we know we all doing, burning 10 ends. So we're gonna shift over to power table number two. And it is an awesome opportunity. I'm gonna serve as your moderator for this second panel. And this panel, which I said is segment two, the topic is mobilizing and leveraging the power of the sister vote in the midst of a coronavirus pandemic. And so my first honor is to introduce our power table sisters who will be leading us

through this conversation. So, Monifa Bandeli, wave your hand if you're here. And she is the vice president of Moms Rising. We have Helen Butler, executive director, Georgia Coalition for the People's Agenda, and convener of the Georgia Black Women's Roundtable. Helen, Helen, thank Coalition for the People's Agenda, and convener of the Georgia Black Women's Roundtable, Helen. Helen, thank you for joining us. And right here at home, my sister, our sister leader, Holly Holliday, Esquire, National

Unity 2020 Campaign Manager for the National Coalition. Thanks, Holly. Tameka Ramsey from the great state of Michigan, who is the convener of the Metro Detroit Michigan Black Women's Roundtable and the Michigan Coalition on Black Civic Participation. And she also has time to be the executive, is a co-executive director, to get the title, and let's hear it a little bit,

Michigan Voices. Thank you, Voices. Thank you, Tamika, for joining us. And then we have our sister Ebony Rowley. Ebony, Ebony, there you go, Ebony. Ebony Rowley is the Washington Bureau Director of the National Action Network and a national partner.

We're so glad for you to be on this call. We know you're double dutying right now. We hope you're on the call. And we've got Deborah Scott, Executive Director of Georgia Stand Up, who's one of our state partners and all of us on this call are national leaders who just happen to live in states.

P.D. Talley from the great state of Ohio, who's the convener of the Ohio Coalition on Black Civic Participation, who recently decided she just was just didn't want to do triple duty, so she just recently transitioned from being the Secretary of Treasury for Ohio AFL-CIO. So our labor sister here is now full-time retirement working in one place and still on the battlefield. So ladies, I'm going to go straight into the conversation. We know our communities are being impacted by this coronavirus in very challenging ways. And we all have heard the data, but I just want to lift up the reality. And we're right here in Michigan on this call knowing there's lots going on in Michigan.

And what we know that the population of, what, 15, 16% black folk, but yet 35% of the deaths from this coronavirus pandemic. Illinois, 16% of black population, 30% death rate. Louisiana, third of the population is black, but yet with 70% of the deaths. And the numbers go on and on and on. And so we know we have a lot at stake in the midst of this pandemic and how important we know elections matter. If folks didn't know elections matter, they know now as we struggle with leadership challenges from the highest level of office in this country and in many states as well.

And so, ladies, my first question to you in framing that is, how have you, all of you all, are leading work through civic engagement, voter empowerment, women's empowerment, so many other areas, economic empowerment, where you have to do this work. So how have Black women, how have Black women

stepped up to lead in your community this fight to provide relief for our communities, for Black communities, to survive this coronavirus pandemic? So why don't we start off, I'll start off with Michigan. So Tamika, give us

your thoughts on that. Yeah, there you go, Tamika. And make sure you take your phone off of mute. Did she hear me? That loser? All right, I'm going to go straight to Helen because I don't think Tamika heard me. So Helen, you want to respond to that?

And Georgia, we know lots going on, Georgia. Georgia, I'm going to go to Helen and Deborah. Talk to us about Georgia. Well, Melanie, as you know, we've really been impacted by COVID-19 as well. And as Black women, we always take care of ourselves, our community, and everyone around us that we have. And you definitely have that going on here in Georgia, whether we are nurses providing the health care, whether we're just caregivers

for our families, for our friends, for our neighbors. We're taking a part in that. And there have been so many women providers like Elizabeth Olami, who's working with the homeless. Make sure that our people get the care and are cared for and can receive services that they need in this time. I look at just what we've done with the Black Women's Roundtable, partnering with LIFT to provide rides to people that need the essential services of just getting to the doctor, getting to work for those low wage workers who need that opportunity to keep an income coming in so that they can pay the rent and everything else. I am fortunate to serve with Chairman Rob Pitts at Fulton County and his advisory committee

where we just allocated $10 million to community organizations that will ensure that our communities of color, that the Black women, Black people are able to survive during this period of time. So Black women always lead, and we're leading in this pandemic as well as we're leading in all other fronts. So it's really great to see all of the black women throughout the state down in Albany, Georgia, where we've had large deaths. We have our coordinator down here working with the community, Jeanette Lucas, who's there to help people really strive

through these serious times. Thank you, Helen. Deborah, and then we're going to come to New York in a minute, Monifa, because we know a lot's going on in New York. So Deborah Scott, Georgia, stand up. Well, thank you, Mel, and thank you for having us. And I share the sentiments with Helen.

Black women have always held it down, and we're doing that, and that's what we have to continue to do. One of the first things that we had to do was first check on our people. So just, you know, the basic tenements of just calling your folks. So we took it to from calling our own folks, calling our own families and friends, but then going back and calling everyone on our list that we've touched to ask, one, how are you doing? What do you need? What do you need for your family?

And what we found that we needed to do was a COVID-19 resource guide so that we can connect people to the resources that are out there. So we called around to make sure that if someone said that they were really giving out food, we wanted to verify that they were really giving out food and what it took to get that food. And then so we did that whole self-care piece first by calling our people, checking on them. But then we realized that there's a connection that this COVID-19 virus has really allowed us to see that we have not been in the game in terms of technology. Some of us, we couldn't even do a Zoom call a month ago, right? And so we needed to make sure our community leaders all around the state and other places are connected digitally.

So do you have the proper phones, the computers, the technology that you needed? We were fortunate that we had opened up our phone bank where we had 75 phones and we had the apparatus. We had the ability to train them on how to do it at home. So we have phone bankers that are working from home, so we did not have to lay off people that were doing phone banking.

And we transitioned some of our voter registration people over to the phone bank. So we had to make sure our technology was correct for our office and for our staff. Then we had to make sure our technology was correct for our office and for our staff. Then we had to make sure our organizers were connected. And then those phone calls are not only asking, how are you doing? How's Mrs. Johnson doing? How's your family doing? But then are you registered to vote? Check and make sure right now if you're registered.

Did you get your absentee ballot? And then did you answer the census? So we're using those wellness calls to touch our people and to make sure we reconnect the infrastructure that we've lost sometimes. We lose it when we're in the middle of just daily life. So this is telling us to slow down, stop, check on your folks, make sure your network and your infrastructure is together. And if what you don't have, tell us what it is you don't have, and let's figure out how to make it happen. And so that also allows us to build a more connected system across the state, across these cities, to say, well, we know Ms. Johnson over at this church is feeding, but over here they're giving out rent support.

And over here they're making sure you're registered to vote. So under the guidance of Helen Butler and the People's Agenda and the Black Women's Roundtable, we stand up, is standing up with the rest of the state to figure out how Black women can make sure we not only control this election, but make sure our folks get out and get out to vote and make sure that

we're not suppressed. Thank you. Thank you, Deborah. Thank you, Helen. Monifa Vandelli from the great state of New York. New York. Moms Rising. And so we're going to lift you all up. We know so, you know, it's happening everywhere. We see those numbers every day, every day going on in New York.

And so, Monifa, so tell us what's happening and what's happening with Black women in your state. Absolutely. Any other comments around what's going on with Black women's leadership? Yeah, with the coronavirus. Because really on every level, state, local, and national, you see Black women standing, holding the line, and pushing forward for our communities. But we also see that locally. You know, one of the things I wanted to point out is that we've seen the racial disparity data coming out of New York City, where our communities,

Black and Brown communities, have high mortality rates, much higher mortality rates from COVID-19. And that is partially because we're the ones on the front line, the essential workers, interacting, making sure that people are getting everything from the food they need to what you need at the drugstore. You know, we're playing those roles. Also health care. But also what we're looking at in New York City is that regardless of the type of work

you're doing, our people who are contracting the virus, are black people dying at higher rates than white people with the same, with otherwise the same demographic as far as the work that they're doing, their income level and their education level. And we're seeing that there's still a disparity there. So I wanted to point that out, because I think that's going to be something very important to address. But where do we see the black women leadership? I mean, you know, every day people tote how wonderful Governor Cuomo is, because really because his press conference comes after the White House press conference.

But what people don't know is that in the New York State legislature there's black women like Latrice Walker holding his feet to the fire. You know, before he gets to make these announcements, there are Black women that are saying, don't leave our communities out. Make sure you're not holding people in jails because they can't afford bail during this coronavirus. Wherever you see that type of advocacy, it's us, you know. And my heart goes out to Georgia.

I'm glad we started with them because we're watching Georgia like, you know, what's going to happen tomorrow? You know, but what I see online are started with them, because we're watching Georgia like, you know, what's going to happen tomorrow? You know, but what I see online are black women also, advocates throughout the state just like here, saying don't fall for it. You know what I'm saying? You see all the memes and the messages.

But just quickly I wanted to talk about on the national level, people, the people who are putting forth the recommendations and the policies that looks at what's happening with child care, that looks at what's happening with essential workers, that's really fighting for what's happening with our loved ones who are incarcerated, over and over and over again we see black women's leadership. So this election is critical coming up, but we have to make sure that we support the sisters now who are really putting their necks out. You know, state by state you see them challenging these governors toe to toe.

We see that in Georgia and in New York. And they are, you know, people say they're making political suicide, but they're standing up for our communities to make sure that we live. So that's what's happening in New York. And I'll just close by saying, within a five-mile radius of me, you know, it's like five to 600 people a night dying, right? So there's like the physical impact of this on Black women, but then there's also an emotional

and mental health component that we should also talk about in this series, because we're gonna have to hold each other up now and way beyond this. Thank you. Thank you, Monetha. Ebony Riley. Ebony from National Action Network.

What's happening? Tell us, we know you all, National Action Network, we're doing a lot, a lot, Reverend Sharpton and you all, and black women that are right there beside him getting the work done every day. What's happening and what you're hearing about from black women, what's going on. And if any of you will hear from, we're going to shift over and start talking about, because we're in this moment

where we've got to really mobilize this vote. And I'll shift over to Petey Talley and Tamika and Holly right after. So, Ebony. So the black women we've worked with are focused on getting through this, like we all here on the call so far with these beautiful activists on the front line. I have a pleasure to be on this chat with a lot of our chapter leaders are Black women who've tapped into their resources and beyond trying to protect us.

On a national level, we've been in conversations with the White House, members of Congress, the Treasury Department, and FEMA advocating for national policies sent through our community. On the National Action Network, we also pushed for hazard pay for frontline workers and expansion for small business loans for Black-owned businesses and creating grants for Black churches and community organizations who are doing the heavy lifting. On a local level, our staff and our chapter leaders have been working on food distribution centers.

Now we're in six cities. We're in Detroit, Michigan. We're in Miami, Florida. We're in Los Angeles, California. We're in Harlem, New York. We're in Newark and Irvington, New Jersey. And we started the third week of March with the food distribution. And now we're serving over 10,000 meals a week. And we're currently working on expanding more.

So I'll just close by saying this. We don't need a definition on who's essential or nonessential. We know who's essential in our communities and always has and always will be black women. Thank you. Thank you, Ebony. So Petey. our communities, and it always has and always will be black women. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Ebony.

So, Petey, Petey Talley with the Ohio Coalition. We're going to start this conversation off. We know a lot's going on. And elections matter is not to say that there has to be a Democrat that's going to do the right thing, because I'm not saying that your governor's doing all things right, but he's standing up, from what I can see from a distance, and not allowing party to not take care of the people. And so I know you give us some, we know there are some black women somewhere in that mix that's pushing that, whether they Democrat or Republican, but also we know you all have an election on Tuesday, right, coming up.

And so how in this coronavirus pandemic that we're in, how are you all working to make sure that our folks are able to vote, to make sure that they're protected in the midst of that, and they can be able to find a way to do this in the safest way possible. So, Petey, tell us what's happening in the great state of Ohio. First of all, Melanie, let me thank you and your team for putting on this wonderful panel conversation. I enjoyed the first panel. This panel is even as powerful. And let me just say a word about our governor. We do appreciate Governor DeWine and the steps that he's taken to protect us and make sure that we're okay. We think he's leading in a way that makes us proud. And so we applaud

his efforts. But he did something that kind of threw us off a little bit about a month ago when he made the decision at the 11th hour to not allow for in-person voting on the last day of the primary election. He closed the polls at about 10 o'clock p.m. after he lost the lawsuit that said he had to have the polls open, and he went about 10 o'clock at.m. after he lost the lawsuit that said he had to have the polls open, and he went around 10 o'clock at night and had his health director to order all polling locations closed, which left millions of voters kind of hanging in the balance who would have gone to the polls and voted on Tuesday, March 17, not knowing what was going to be the state

of their franchisement. And so we have a whole story to tell about that. But before I do that, Melanie, let me just answer your first question, tell you what some of the black women in the state are doing in terms of the COVID piece. So a lot of black women in our state and particularly in my community, they've gotten out their sewing machines and they've been making masks. First, they made masks for first responders and for, you know, healthcare providers. But the demand has gotten so great that they began making and selling at cost

masks to the general public because the public has been advised that if they must go outside, they should have a face covering. So the entrepreneurial spirit of black women has risen somewhat through this crisis, and they are actually putting their talents to work to make sure people are safe. We've got some black women in Cleveland that are working with churches and schools and senior sitters to feed the community and to provide the supplies that are working with churches and schools and senior sitters to feed the

community and to provide the supplies that are needed, whether it's toilet paper or disinfectant or Lysol, whatever is needed. They are coming out of their homes to make sure that our vulnerable communities have the things that they need. In Youngstown, Ohio, some of, and these are Black Women's Roundtable Sistars who have been in our presence and are doing this work. They're staffing grab-and-go stations where students are picking up meals and school supplies in Youngstown. And a lot of them are doing this work while they're keeping up with their own everyday work assignments, because just because you're at home does not necessarily mean that you

are not working. So they're doing their work job, and they're also clocking hours to maintain an eye on the community. And it's been quite interesting, but around the election, what we did, we got together and we found a way to help our community get their vote back and raise their voice in our democracy by stepping in and providing a way for voters who have never voted by mail to understand what the vote by mail system is and to participate in a way, hopefully, that is meaningful. And I'll tell you, maybe in the second phase of question, I can go a little bit more in depth around, specifically, what the Ohio Coalition has done, and it's been impactful, it's been recognized

by the Secretary of State as one of the most robust programs across the state to help voters get their voice in this primary election. Thank you, P. Tamika, Michigan, you know, we've been watching from a distance all the protests that have been taken care of, and not big crowds, but small crowds that folks keep putting them on national news, who say they're not going to get it done. the protests that have been taken care of, and not big crowds, but small crowds that

folks keep putting them on national news, who say they're ready to go, ready for the state to open. So, I know you all have had your election, but I wanted to see what's happening with black women, how are black women handling a lot of this? Because we know the numbers are high in Michigan when it comes to the coronavirus death rate in Ohio. And as you try to do things like get, we've got to get out the vote, not just the vote, but we've got to get this counted in the census.

So the work is still continuing in the midst of that. So what about women? How are you all handling that? And then after you, Tameka, Holly, I'll be coming to you next to talk about what's happening from our end here in the great nation's capital. Tameka. Thank you, Melanie. Thank you so much.

And so, in Michigan, we unfortunately had the death of a five-year-old young lady whose parents were both first responders. The protests happened, and it was just so much white supremacy and white privilege. We have elected officials at our Capitol saying that urban centers should be shut down and rural areas should be allowed

to move across the state. So we see the divide in race already in our state, and it's just expanding. Detroit has the highest death rate in this, in the state for the coronavirus. And so we are working to make sure one, because like someone said, most of the essential workers are people of color. Both my son and my daughter-in-law work at grocery stores. They have a one-year-old daughter, who now are trying to figure out, did they bring it home? Were they asymptomatic and brought it home to their child? So we are dealing with that and making sure at the same time, right, that the census numbers are counted.

All urban cities in our state are 10% down on the census count from 10 years ago. And we know it's because we don't have people knocking at the door. We know that it's because we are trying to make sure that people have food and they have personal hygiene products. And so what we have done with Black Women's Round Table Eastern Michigan is working with our partners, where as they're doing food delivery, we're asking about census. We have tablets and masks and gloves, and we're screaming to people to get them to fill out their census during the food distribution. We are making sure that we're talking about basic quality of life issues while looking at, are you registered to vote? Georgia Stand Up is doing an amazing job, and I think a lot of states and organizations

are following their lead. One of the things that black women are doing, and Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence is doing an amazing job, so many black women own small businesses that were left out of the CARES Act, the last round of small business funding, that have been left out of so many of the funding processes that they are now trying to figure out how they're going to be sustainable and take care of their families. Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence has done an amazing job of speaking up for those small businesses, but not only that, getting on calls and finding resources to help them fill out applications.

We've seen that some of these bigger companies are filling them out because they have resources. They have HR departments. Most of them are franchises. And we have small business owner women who are sewing by hand or in their basement or providing food for their city that don't have those same resources. So we just need to make sure as we go forward and we're looking at all aspects of Black women that we are taking care of their health. We have women who are choosing to give birth for the first time at home because they're scared to go into hospitals. We need to make sure that we are looking at the full and complete life of a Black woman and taking care of all aspects as we move forward through this crisis. Thank you, Tameka.

And we all know that the mortality rate when it comes to mothers and birth, and we already have bad numbers as it is. So it's a lot coming at us. But this too, we will be victorious. We have no choice. We got to fight, keep fighting, keep fighting. So thank you, Tamika. Holly, Holly Holiday.

We're here in the Washington, D.C. metro area. So before I get into the politics of dealing with the electoral. Also, we know there's a lot going on, black women are doing here right in this area to keep up. Can you kind of put that other hat on? You know, the community. Well, absolutely. Well, let me first say... How black women are handling our region.

Yeah, absolutely. And being able to find the balance to make sure that the disparities for us in the area, in this area, that we try to survive in this pandemic. Absolutely. Let me first start by saying, as has been reflected on this powerful panel, it takes all of us doing a little bit. And really, it takes all of us doing a lot. And that's what we're seeing here

in the nation's capital, in the capital region, and that's what we're seeing in all of these states. It's not a one-person job. It's not a one-organization job. This is a job where Black women are banding together, working together to fill the needs that they see in their community. You all have mentioned some of the things in terms of food service. I'm going to focus on something that we find incredibly important, and that is mental health. You've seen an increase in the amount of services where people are being able to access mental health services, transitioning from being at home, being in isolation, working through and dealing with intensified problems

that were already happening at home and being trapped in the home. We're now seeing some of the domestic violence programs being expanded to reach out to women who are now trapped at home with their abusers. We've seen, I happen to live in the state of Maryland, and we have something called the Family Justice Center here, and they've expanded their services and made them more available virtually and through no-contact mechanisms, which are lifelines for women, you know,

struggling with mental health and also just struggling with the depression and the overwhelming feeling of how do we make it through the day. And of course, we're also doing the food bank and the food insecurities are huge here as well. Prince George's County actually has seen the biggest jump in unemployment in one single month than we've seen in 25 years. And even though we are supposedly the county of the richest African Americans in the country, like many things that happen in our community, we live in a dichotomy. And despite the fact that we have that wealth, we find we really are just one or two paychecks away.

And so the food insecurity piece is real. Our county executive in Prince George's County has actually declared it a state of food emergency and has begun looking for resources that the state can be a part of feeding each other. So I would say, you know, those are some of the things we're looking at. And we've been fortunate to also, I mean, this Do Too thing, we have that going on. We have an election June 2nd, as many other states will be. That's our new election day and at the same time pushing the census.

And we're using our social service outreach as a way to also talk about these issues as well. I almost think this should say do 15, because we're doing about 15 different things. But that's some of the things that are happening in the nation's capital. Thank you, Holly. Ladies, we have three minutes before we have to close out. So I'm going to ask you to talk to the audience that's out there. Before I get there, I just want to thank Roland Martin Unfiltered for partnering with us on this inaugural Power Table talk series that will continue. And so we thank you all for joining this first one. But just what would the citizens out there, what's the one thing you want to let them know to do?

Will it be about how to deal with this coronavirus pandemic? How to make sure that they're able to vote? What can they do? And then lastly, how can they make sure that their vote is counted in 2020? So just come at it. Rapid response. Hey, Melanie, this is PD in Ohio.

We have an election coming up on Tuesday, April 28th. If you're in the state of Ohio and you have not completed your ballot and mailed it in or turned it in, we encourage you to do that before April the 28th. That is the deadline if you intend to vote in Ohio's primary election. So please, vote by mail and vote today. I wanted to say, Melanie, I want to shout out to our mayor of Atlanta, Keisha Lance Bottoms,

to the mayor of Albany and Savannah for standing up and saying, stay inside, shelter in place, be safe, but vote. We want you to do both. Vote by mail. Don't believe the myths that it's a fraud involved. There isn't. We've been voting by decades, but vote by mail. So it is safe. We're here to protect you. We have a group of people, election monitors, that will assist you with 866-OUR-VOTE if you have a problem. So do vote and be counted. We've done a tour, a census tour with Killer Mike, and we're telling you to be counted. Do too. Vote and be counted. Thank you. This is Monika in Michigan. I think it's important. We say trust Black women, follow Black women, Black women lead. Black women need to start trusting

themselves more. Black women need to understand that we are powerful, we are educated, and we have been leading this country for centuries. And so it's only right for us to start doing that in elected positions at the federal level. Okay. Great. This is Monifa. My message to sisters out there is that you are enough. Don't be gaslit by people like the Surgeon General saying that black communities need to step up and stop doing this, that, and the other. We are doing it. We need to support each other and not be confused by those who wish they had the power and the resilience that you have. You are enough.

Deborah? Okay. My message would be, one, trust and verify, right? So if you think you're registered to vote, make sure you're registered to vote. Check that registration. Get that absentee ballot. Make sure your family is counted in the 2020 census. And then really stand up and make sure people are taken care of and make sure they vote.

This is a time for us to stay together and to work together. I love these kind of conversations we have at the Black Women's Roundtable because it really shows the power of black women work together. I love these kind of conversations we have at the Black Women's Roundtable because it really shows the power of black women working together. And now, you know, from organizing from college, we have to pass this on.

So I'm so excited about the young people that are coming behind us. We have some young organizers that are doing some amazing things. We have to continue to work together and trust each other and to teach each other because, you know, the power is in our hands. It's up to us once again. Thank you. Thank you. Ebony, Holly, last words? Yep. I would just say that echoing all the other

sisters on the call, check with your state to make sure that you can get a request, have to request a mail-in ballot. Some states, you have to request it. So call your board of elections and just double-check to make sure that you're on the docket as well. Make sure your family is. Make sure you do your census. That's coming up. We have three more months,

so if we don't want to waste time and wait, let's go ahead and reach out to extra people now that we have more time. If you need any more information, you can reach out to us. If you need any more information, you can reach out to us. If you want to help volunteer, visit nationalactionnetwork.net. We're also having a virtual town hall this Sunday

to talk about all of these issues under the coronavirus, and you can register for free on our website. And it's also the last thing for me. I started off as a volunteer. If you see a need in your community, figure out how to fill it because you can do it. You don't need any titles,

any education. You can figure out solutions to any problem and fill that need. Start one step at a time. Thank you. Howard? Well, I can't leave without saying that we just need to remember to do two, vote and be counted in 2020. We have

links to all of the partners that you see on this call, as well as the one before at our unitycampaign.org site. And then I would also just end with, just like we're not alone at this power table, black women, you are not alone. Reach out to your church, your sister friends, and if you can't find any of them,

just reach out to your neighbor because you are not alone in this and together we will get through it. So be encouraged. Thank you. Thank you, ladies, for joining our Black Women's Roundtable inaugural Power Table series. And

stay safe. Thank you for all of your leadership. Again, thank you and thank you for all of the ladies of the first panel who were on. And stay tuned for the conversation to continue. So thank you again, Roland Martin and Filter for the partnership. And we appreciate you, Ro. And let's just stay safe. And thank you again, ladies.

And thank you, everyone, for And thank you everyone for tuning in. Thank you, Melanie. Thank you, Mel. This is an iHeart Podcast.